Not Applicable.
The invention generally relates to medical care equipment and more particularly relates to fluids canisters and in particular suction canisters, which may be useful regarding irrigation suction fluids and other operatory fluids and which may also be useful in home and nursing home care.
It has become a self evident truth that competition reaches into virtually every segment of not only our national economy, but the world economy as well. The experts may discuss and argue without ending and without conclusion as to whatever may be the cause or reason of why the competitiveness of the economy is present. To some extent that is immaterial because it is here and must be accommodated or otherwise dealt with. At least one influence of the present competitiveness is an increasing demand on the available fluids of anyone in the market place. This includes non-discretionary as well as discretionary purchase decisions.
More specific to the invention, a focus has been drawn to the medical field and the expense of medical care. The medical services industry is an enormous industry. The resources, in terms of both people and funds, that are committed to providing medical care and services is incomprehensible to many. One effect of the competitive economy upon medical care is a drive to efficiency, which may be key phrased as doing more with less. Medical care is transitioning, if it has not already transitioned, to management and administration by professional administrators. This is no longer a profession that is driven by the professional medical care givers. Only one of a multitude of aspects of efficiency in medical care is the task of eliminating waste in physical facilities.
The professional managers and administrators are identifying and evaluating every factor and detail, large and small. Thus, materials and logistics control is important in medical services as in any industry. One of the little details that adds to a big allocation of resources is in the area of inventory, including the inventory of medical supplies and the disposal of consumed supplies and other medical waste, which is a hazardous waste disposal concern.
It is also self evident, then, that reducing the allocation of resources to the storage and handling of medical supplies and to the disposal of medical waste is important. After all, the more resources that can be freed from the xe2x80x9cback roomxe2x80x9d tasks to the xe2x80x9cfront officexe2x80x9d dispensing of medical care, the better. More specifically as to fluids canisters, the typical practice is to inventory a supply of canisters in a number of sizes, say one, two, and three liter, for example. Thus, the appropriate size canister may be selected for a given procedure. The physical storage space required for a proper supply of suction canisters may be reduced, freeing up allocated resources, if only one size canister is inventoried. The problem here is that a reduction in the variety of sizes that are inventoried may result in forcing the use of a larger than needed canister and associated increased disposal resources. A worse result is that a use of a number of small canisters may be imposed upon a medical procedure. Any medical procedure carries with it an inherent elevated stress or tension environment. Virtually any medical procedure also requires focused attention to various tasks. Thus, imposing an added requirement, and risk, of watching and changing small suction canisters is not justifiable.
Even the few, rudimentary factors noted above that are involved in the supply, use, and disposal of suction canisters demonstrate a desire for a one size canister that dose not compromise the dispensing of care or further burden its disposal. More particularly, these factors point to a desire for a suction canister that is small in storage of a supply inventory, provides maximum capacity during a medical procedure, and yet does not have added waste when disposed of. So far, an expandable and collapsible suction canister has not been practical if only because a canister that will not collapse under suction during use in a medical procedure also commonly resists compression for disposal.
Accordingly, an expansible medical suction canister of the invention has an expansible chamber and a support. The chamber is expandable to an open position and compressible to a closed position. The chamber also has opposing first and second ends. The first and the second ends are spaced relatively farther apart in the open position than in the closed position. The support is connected between the opposing ends and moves with the opposing ends between the open and closed positions. The support also has a locked condition in the open position. The support may have a first element and a second element. The first and the second elements preferably move between open and closed positions with the opposing chamber ends. In one aspect, the first element may have a stop surface and the second element may include a leg with an end that abuts the stop surface in the open position, whereby compression of the canister to the closed position is resisted. In another aspect, the support may be a telescoping member with the first element including a detent and the detent engaging the second element. Further, the detent may be biased toward engagement with the second element.
These and other features, objects, and benefits of the invention will be recognized by one having ordinary skill in the art and by those who practice the invention, from this disclosure, including the specification, the claims, and the drawing figures.